The Good Byline

February 27, 2017
Not every reader will be charmed by library assistant Riley Ellison, the narrator of Orr’s first novel, who at one point imagines her own obit after accepting a ride from a stranger (“Her remains were found chopped up and frozen inside ice cubes that the perpetrator used to chill his iced tea for months after her death”). Riley being dumped by charismatic Ryan Sanford has made her the object of near-universal sympathy from her neighbors in Tuttle Corner, Va., but she views their expressions of concern as just a polite mask for disdain and pity. Riley’s infatuation with Ryan led her to neglect her friends, including her best childhood chum, reporter Jordan James. Riley’s guilt increases after she learns that Jordan has died, an apparent suicide. A poorly written and misspelled suicide note makes Riley suspicious, and she turns amateur sleuth. Riley’s breezy narration is at odds with how a person would feel in real life about a close friend’s death. Agents: Emma Sweeney and Margaret Sutherland Brown, Emma Sweeney Agency.

February 15, 2017
For a small-town girl in over her head, finding love is hard enough without having to find a murderer.The people in Tuttle Corner, Virginia, think Riley Ellison might as well change her name to Riley Bless-Her-Heart now that her longtime boyfriend has run off to have a mid-20s crisis. Riley always thought she and "That Sanford Boy," aka Ryan Sanford, had a bright future together. That's why she put off all her own needs during the seven years they dated and concentrated on being a "we" instead of a "me." Left alone in the wake of Ryan's nonconsideration, Riley's stuck at a dead-end library job with no prospects except for her mother's insistence she join Click.com, a highly personalized dating website. With nothing left to lose, Riley enrolls in the service but is distracted before she can go on her first date by the news that her childhood friend Jordan James, a reporter at the Tuttle Times, has killed herself. Just as she felt when her grandfather died the same way, Riley's certain that the cause of death is murder and not suicide. Riley tries to investigate, but everyone in town seems too busy pitying her to cooperate--except for Jordan's colleague Will Holman, who may be too weird to be helpful. Worse still, Ryan returns to town, and everyone knows Riley will get her heart broken again except for Riley, bless her heart. Though not every line rings true, Orr is #soclose with her debut mystery, with interspersed emails from Click.com's Personal Romance Concierge as the #cherryontop.

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March 1, 2017

After her boyfriend dumped her, 24-year-old library assistant Riley "Bless-Her-Heart" Ellison developed a reputation for quirky behavior in her Virginia hometown, including obsessively reading the obituary pages. But deciding to turn over a new leaf, she joins a dating service and tries to reconnect with her childhood best friend, only to learn that Jordan has just committed suicide. When Riley is asked to write Jordan's obituary, it stirs old memories of her late grandfather, the former obituary writer for the local newspaper; Riley had created a scene when she insisted that he had not killed himself. Now, she's joining forces with an odd reporter who is convinced Jordan was murdered. Riley bumbles her way through the investigation as she plays amateur sleuth. VERDICT Orr's debut mystery is a fun romp populated with peculiar characters. Recommend to new adult fans or admirers of Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" capers.--LH

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